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We talk to a British steeplechaser whose faith in her own abilities paid off when she moved to the US for college and is now taking great stride forwards
“I remember it so well because it was terrible,” laughs Elise Thorner, recalling the 10:47.74 3000m steeplechase she ran in Loughborough before arriving at the University of New Mexico in 2019. “I said to my coach [Joe Franklin]: ‘If you give me time, I promise we can do something with this, but I’m not there yet’.”
It turns out Thorner was right – her current personal best now stands at 9:15.06 – but so too was her former coach and schoolteacher Abi Tickner, who suggested that the US would be a sensible next step if she wanted to progress her running career. Then, when others might have focused on a quick win, her future coach Franklin also made the right call by committing to the long game.
“I was so incredibly lucky,” says the former multi-eventer who finished fourth in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2023 European Under-23 Championships. “I know it’s different everywhere, but I feel like a lot of kids go to the States and they’re pushed to the brink, but he [Franklin] just built me up in such a great way from about 35 or 40 miles a week at the start – which was still a lot for me – to about 65 miles a week in my fourth year. He was focused on the future and not so much: ‘We need to be the best freshman in the country right now’. It completely made me.”
Now a professional athlete and coached by Helen Clitheroe as part of Team New Balance Manchester since October 2024, Thorner’s positive coach-athlete experience continues.
She opened her 2025 outdoor season with a 9:30.41 clocking at the Drake Relays in April, only two seconds outside her then-PB of 9:28.49, then went on to destroy that mark a month later with 9:17.57 (a World Championships qualifying standard) at the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles.
While she had expected to go back into a training block after LA, Clitheroe had a different plan; she wanted her athlete to learn how to race: “I think as soon as I hit the standard Helen was like: ‘Goal number one is obviously to make it [to the World Championships]’ – and I still have to finish in the top two at the British Championships to do that – ‘but goal two is that we don’t want you to be a fish out of water when you get there, so you need to race against these women who are a lot better than you and see how you hang out, basically’.”
On her Diamond League debut in Oslo on June 12 – which was exactly the level of competition they wanted to experience – Thorner improved further, clocking 9:15.06 to go second on the British all-time list.
“It’s so fun right now because everyone is running well,” says the 24-year-old who is quick to point out that her training partners, including Hannah Nuttall who ran a 5000m PB in LA (14:50.42) and a 3000m PB in Stockholm (8:33.82), are also excelling.
“Every group I’ve been in has been so different, so I’ve definitely found out what works better for me and what doesn’t. Helen’s [training] is like a combination of everything that’s worked. Most weeks l say it’s the hardest session I’ve ever done, although I am a bit dramatic. I look at the pace that Helen thinks that I can run and I’m like: ‘I don’t know if I can do that!’, so it’s been really fun to see the progression each week in training. In tempos, which I really don’t love, I’m running 20 or 30 seconds faster than I’ve ever been able to do before. There’s no pressure and it’s just so relaxed.
“The speed we do everything at has definitely helped, too, especially when we hit the track, and everything’s done with purpose. Helen will say: ‘This is the time we’re aiming for, so these are the paces we’re going to hit today’, and it all makes sense. When you have Hannah to train with – who is very consistent, which makes me consistent – it also helps.
“Everyone says that your first year as a pro is really hard and, don’t get me wrong, it is hard, but it’s so much easier when you find a group and a coach that you click with.”
Below is a typical training week (altitude training camp in Flagstaff: last hard training week ahead of the Sound Running Track Fest 3000m steeplechase on May 24)…
Thorner trains seven days per week and takes a rest day every two to three weeks (on a Monday), depending on when her body needs it.
She does two gym sessions per week and always does strides the day before a session. Easy runs are done to “feel” and can therefore vary in pace.
Sunday runs are typically 12-14 miles but she dropped down to 11 miles ahead of LA.
- Monday: (am) 6 miles and strides e.g. 4 x 100m
- Tuesday: (am) tempo session e.g., 8 x 30sec on/30sec off – 5min rest – two-mile tempo – 5min rest – 8 x 30sec on/30sec off. “It’s a killer,” says Thorner, who gives another example of a Tuesday tempo session as 3-2-1mile off 90 seconds jog recovery; (pm) 4 miles easy
- Wednesday: either (am) 8 miles easy followed by gym or (am) 6 miles easy followed by gym; (pm) 4 miles easy. “This one depends on whether we’re tired or not,” she says; “in Flagstaff I’d usually do the split, but at home I’d just do the morning run.”
- Thursday: (am) 8 miles and strides
- Friday: (am) 6-8 x 400m over barriers with reducing recovery from 90 seconds on the first rep and 10/15 seconds less on each rep; (pm) 4 miles easy
- Saturday: (am) 6 miles plus gym
- Sunday: (am) 11 miles
Favourite session: “The 8 x 400m over barriers with reduced recovery is definitely my favourite session, or anything over hurdles! It’s really quite hard, but I like it because it’s short, that’s kind of my vibe. It’s always fun because I like to go all-out with hurdles – and it’s only 400m. It’s also a really good race pace indicator.”
Least favourite session: “The gym is my worst session out of everything. They’ve had to build me up quite slowly, it’s quite laughable because the others are really good!”